Section 20 – Developments of national significance: secondary consents
84.This section inserts sections 62F, 62G and 62H into the TCPA 1990.
85.Section 62F allows the Welsh Ministers to make decisions on consents which they consider to be connected to an application for DNS, in place of the normal consenting authority. A decision of the Welsh Ministers on a secondary consent is final, which means that there is no right of appeal to the Welsh Ministers.
86.Section 62G gives power to the Welsh Ministers to give directions to the normal consenting authority to do things in relation to a secondary consent. The Welsh Ministers may make regulations about how a secondary consent is dealt with by the Welsh Ministers, including consultation arrangements. Regulations may provide for other enactments or requirements in respect of secondary consents either to apply with changes or not to apply where decisions are to be made by the Welsh Ministers. There may for example be a need to modify a timetable applicable to a secondary consent to fit with the timetable for determining a DNS application.
87.Section 62H defines a secondary consent and when it is connected to an application for DNS. A secondary consent is a consent which is required in order for the proposed development to be undertaken. The section gives the Welsh Ministers power to prescribe secondary consents in regulations. Secondary consents could include:
outline or full planning permission for development associated with the DNS development, such as access roads, office accommodation or visitor centres;
reserved matters approval for associated development;
listed building consent under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990;
scheduled monument consent under section 2 of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979;
the exchange of common land under sections 16 and 17 of the Commons Act 2006; and
consent for works on common land under sections 38 and 39 of the Commons Act 2006.